Over the past few years, the Missouri Department of Corrections has gobbled up headlines for being one of the most female-unfriendly places to work in the state. Now, yet another employee has come forward having filed a hostile work environment and sexual discrimination and harassment claim against the DoC. Tina
Uber drivers are generally considered independent contractors. As independent contractors, they are not entitled to certain benefits that employees generally get. There are certain lawsuits that they cannot file against their employers, they are not subject to minimum wage or overtime requirements, and lastly, they are not entitled to unemployment.
Former neurosurgery resident, Rylan Brantl, is suing his former employer, the University of Missouri, for $50 million. Brantl alleges that the chief of neurosurgery, N. Scott Litofsky, harassed and fired him without good cause. He further alleges that Litofsky created a hostile work environment during the years that Brantl worked
A healthcare non-profit in Springfield, Missouri under fire from federal authorities amid allegations of bribery and kickbacks to Arkansas lawmakers. At the same time that Preferred Family Healthcare was lavishing Arkansas legislators with massive amounts of money, the company was refusing to pay its employees overtime wages. According to the
Among the most common labor disputes are those in which employees are misclassified in one form another. The majority of employees are eligible for minimum wage benefits, workers comp, and overtime. However, some employees are not eligible for overtime, and independent contractors, who are presupposed to be business owners, are
Former assistant track and field coach, Carjay Lyles, is sueing Mizzou over racial discrimination that he alleges he experienced during his time at the university. Carjay Lyles says he faced several instances of discrimination during his four years coaching at the university between 2013 and 2017. The lawsuit names head coach
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, sexual harassment and misconduct lawsuits have taken center stage across a nation that has had to take a hard look in the mirror. In terms of lawsuits, companies can be held liable when an employee files a complaint against a co-worker or a
Most employee discrimination lawsuits involve an employer who uses discriminatory hiring practices to weed out potential hires. In certain circumstances, a hostile work environment is created by a company-wide culture of discrimination. There is another class of employment law altogether that relates not to protected people but to protected actions.
Misclassification lawsuits are among the most common labor disputes between employers and employees. Often, employees are misclassified as independent contractors for the sake of improving a company’s bottom line. The law draws a firm distinction between an independent contractor and an employee, though sometimes that line is admittedly blurry. One
Misclassification lawsuits generally involve the intentional classification of a laborer as an independent contractor as opposed to an employee. Since employees benefit from things like minimum wage and mandatory time and a half for overtime, companies that classify laborers as contractors can work around such restrictions. However, misclassification lawsuits can
The #MeToo movement continues to see aftershocks ripple across various industries. The latest is from McDonald’s employees in nine different states. That includes one right here in Missouri. 10 McDonald’s employees are alleging sexual assault or harassment within McDonald’s franchises. A St. Louis teenager is alleging unwanted groping, unwanted sexual
After multiple incidents of African-American patrons having the police called on them at various Starbucks, the company took a day off from business to offer its employees “implicit bias training.” Implicit bias training is a controversial method of making individuals aware of their ingrained biases, prejudices, and negative reactions to
A former Uber employee is suing the company for what she claims is a pay discrimination lawsuit. She is further alleging sexual harassment and racial discrimination against the company. Ingrid Avendaño worked as an Uber driver for three years beginning in 2014. Avendaño’s lawsuit alleges that Uber did not do
A new racial discrimination lawsuit against the Kansas City Fire Department is going to Federal Court. The case involves the interests of African-American firefighters in Kansas City who have been routinely passed up for promotions, despite the fact that these individuals appear to have the necessary qualifications for the job,
The U.S. Senate passed a bill co-authored by Missouri congressman Roy Blunt that effectively modernized the process of reporting sexual harassment on Capitol Hill. The bill was backed by both Republican and Democratic leaders. The law will replace legislation passed in 1995 called the Congressional Accountability Act. Proponents of the
When sending a text message, one of the many things lost in translation is inflection. Words, by their very nature, lend themselves to interpretation. Not only is it harder to communicate via text, it is harder to get a feel for the meaning behind what people are saying. If we
The EEOC initiated a lawsuit against Albertsons Pharmacy for a policy that prohibits employees from speaking Spanish while on the job. The Albertsons in question is located in San Diego, but recently, other cases involving prohibitions on certain hairstyles have garnered national attention in the media. Recently, a judge ruled
The so-called gig economy has made it much easier for employers to claim that their hired labor is made up of independent contractors as opposed to employees. The distinction is important because employees are entitled to a host of benefits to which independent contractors are not entitled. That includes the
The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center recently dismissed one its researchers amid complaints of workplace sexual harassment. Since the #MeToo social media movement raised awareness around the perils of simply being a woman in the workplace, workplaces have been under scrutiny to address the problem of sexual harassment. Those that
Missouri is one of a number of states that does not include protections for the LGBTQ community in terms of civil rights issues such as workplace discrimination. That, however, could change as the Missouri Supreme Court will decide whether the Missouri Human Rights Act should extend beyond race, religion, nation
Norman Newton was actively recruited by Hertz for a sales position after they had spotted his resume online. Newton had over 10 years experience in car sales and Hertz appeared enthusiastic about scheduling him for an interview. When he got there, however, the manager who interviewed him expressed reservations about
A black woman who had a job offer rescinded because she refused to change her hairstyle is hoping to take her case to the Supreme Court. Chastity Jones of Alabama was offered a job as a customer service representative in 2010. An HR manager later told Jones that dreadlocks “tend
One of the casualties of Missouri’s SB 43 were protections for whistleblowers from employer retaliation. A Missouri Senate vote could restore some of those protections – at least for government employees. Whistleblowers were believed to be collateral damage in a wide-reaching and controversial tort-reform measure that sought to limit damages
Employees can be fired, generally speaking, for any reason other than a handful of protections that are basic to civil rights or work against the public good. To that end, employees may not be fired on the basis of their skin color, religion, nation of origin, gender, or disability. In
Misclassification lawsuits are among the most commonly litigated labor disputes. They involve the misclassification of individuals that more closely fit the definition of an employee than an independent contractor. While employees are entitled to certain benefits, including overtime, independent contractors have the freedom to set their own hours and take
In what has become a troubling trend for Missouri Department of Corrections, another employee has won a sexual harassment lawsuit against the department. The state paid out another $600,000 to settle a lawsuit brought on by Michelle Findley, a prison guard, who said that male employees referred to her using
In the aftermath of a trial that saw Karen Ray, a Jefferson County High School journalism teacher, awarded $225,000 in punitive damages for sexual and age discrimination, two new trials emerged targeting the very same school district. The original suit filed by Ray alleged that she had been bullied out
Mark Horton was working as the vice president of sales and marketing at Celtic Healthcare in Illinois when a recruiter hired by a Missouri firm, Midwest Geriatric Management thought he would be a good fit for an opening they had. Horton applied for the position and was well liked. He
11 women and one man are taking their case to Federal Court against the International House of Pancakes. The plaintiffs allege that managers at the IHOPs that they worked for in Glen Carbon and Alton, Illinois acted indifferently amid their numerous complaints of sexual harassment and misconduct against staff. The
In 2014, a Missouri trucking company unlawfully damaged a former employee’s reputation after he got medical attention for an injury sustained on the job. In 2008, the driver informed his employer that he had sustained a back injury. It was serious enough that he had to be prescribed pain medication
One major area of concern for modern workers is how the so-called “gig economy” impacts their classification as an employee. With more freelancers and contractors entering the marketplace, employees still have several benefits to which freelancers are not entitled. These include the right to file discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuits
Tarshish Jones, a veteran Kansas City firefighter, won a $356,000 workplace discrimination settlement against the KC fire department in October of last year. The settlement came after Missouri legislators changed the law raising the standard of proof in discrimination cases. Beforehand, employees claiming workplace discrimination need only prove that discrimination
Missouri workers’ right to sue their companies for workplace discrimination has been the subject of widespread tort reform over the past couple of years. The controversial SB 43 included measures that: Shield perpetrators of sexual misconduct from being directly sued by their victims. Make it easier for employers to discriminate
A bill that would have forced Missouri’s workers to settle workplace discrimination lawsuits through private arbitration as opposed to the courts has died in committee. The bill would have strengthened the enforceability of employee contracts that require employees to settle workplace discrimination lawsuits via private arbitration as opposed to the
Since strengthening its policies against sexual harassment complaints in 2015, the Missouri legislature has faced twice as many allegations of sexual misconduct as it did in the two years prior. Whether this is a result of more misconduct being committed by legislators or it is the impact of having created
One of the unintended consequences of Senate Bill 43, that saw workplace protections rolled back and made workplace discrimination lawsuits more difficult to win, was St. Louis’s suspension from FHAP (Fair Housing Assistance Program). Last year, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development contacted Gov. Eric Greitens, who signed
The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the EEOC, which filed a lawsuit on behalf of Chastity Jones. Jones filed a discrimination lawsuit after having an offer of employment rescinded by Catastrophe Management Services located in Mobile, Alabama. They said her dreadlocks violated company policy on personal grooming.
Sexual discrimination in the workplace usually conjures images of sexual harassment or gender exclusion for promotions or executive positions. In one interesting case from California in 2005, female employees sued the Department of Corrections because they were passed up for promotions given to employees who were involved in consensual sexual
Kevin Anderson, a former employee of Mercy Villa and Mercy Hospital, has filed a lawsuit against the hospital alleging that he was fired for reporting instances of workplace harassment. The lawsuit alleges that Anderson endured a hostile work environment in which other employees called him racial slurs. Anderson claims that
Among the many obstacles that Missouri’s Senate Bill 43 placed in front of Missouri workers attempting to receive compensation for employer malfeasance, it also shielded those responsible for perpetrating sexual misconduct in the workplace from being directly held accountable. An employee can still sue his or her employer for fostering
In a case that pitted religious freedom against gender expression, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled in favor of a transgender funeral director who was fired from her job because of her gender expression. She disclosed her intent to transition to her bosses, who then fired
In 2017, American companies paid out a record amount in jury verdicts and settlements to American workers. Come 2018, one report says that labor lawyers raced to settle lawsuits before America’s 45th POTUS could enact legislation that would favor US companies over US employees in labor disputes. The government and
While certain forms of discrimination may be frowned upon in the media, they are not necessarily overtly illegal. For instance, sexual orientation is not considered a protected class in Missouri. If an employer fires someone because he or she is gay, a lawyer would have to argue that this is
The 8th Circuit US Court of Appeals sent a strong message to employers in 2013. The Court decided to rule in favor of undocumented immigrants who had been employed by The Jerusalem Cafe in Westport. The Court determined that regardless of the legal status or citizenship of the employees who
One area of employment law that often gets overlooked is wage and hour litigation. This often involves the misclassification of employees as independent contractors or companies overtly expecting their employees to work overtime without compensating them correctly. Federal standards are set by US Department of Labor under the Fair Labor
In December of 2017, a Missouri Department of Corrections employee filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Corrections. The suit alleges that male employees called her vulgar names, made inappropriate comments about her body, and asked for sex on numerous occasions. The plaintiff, Jennifer LeFleur alleges that
In the Summer of 2017, Sprint Corp. settled a lawsuit in which 153 of its employees claimed that Sprint required workers to under-report their hours while simultaneously demanding that they work beyond their regular schedule. In December, a second lawsuit was filed against Sprint that alleged the same by a
In August of 2017, a female employee filed a lawsuit against the President of the St. Louis Regional Chamber alleging that she was passed up for promotion on multiple occasions due to gender discrimination. Karen Ellis served as the director of economic development at the Chamber. She is suing for
File this one under the “sad but true” category. In a series of lawsuits that were borne out of the Jay Nixon governorship, Missouri’s Department of Labor was sued by multiple employees alleging age, gender, and disability discrimination. Matthew Vacca v. Missouri Department of Labor In 2012, Matthew Vacca filed
In June of last year, Missouri governor Eric Greitens made it more difficult for workers to prove discrimination cases. In a battle that had waged between the Missouri Supreme Court and legislators, plaintiffs had to show that discrimination was a contributing factor in a case of wrongful termination. Now plaintiffs
In late December of 2017, Richard Dixson successfully sued the Missouri Department of corrections for $1.5 million dollars in lost wages and punitive damages. Dixson alleged that ongoing racial harassment subjected him to a hostile work environment. Dixson was then working for the Kansas City Re-Entry Center, which is a
Hostile work environment attorneys are those who specialize in discrimination and harassment cases. When an employee feels that the culture of the company he or she works for has produced an environment that is not only hostile to his or her career interests but hostile to the employee on a
